Spammers Make Merry During Financial Crisis

PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory, today announced research revealing overwhelming evidence that cyber criminals are adapting their messaging with changes in the economic landscape.

Two weeks ago, reports indicated a staggering correlation between stock market declines and increased malware attacks. Upon further investigating the content of spam campaigns that have experienced the most growth over the last two months, it has become evident that cybercriminals have become more sophisticated and are preying on the current economic misfortunes of consumers.

According to PandaLabs, spam continues to constitute upto 90-95 % of all email traffic, with spam related to the economy representing 10% of total spam. Since the stock market began to take a steady decline in September, It has been reported that while overall spam has increased 5%, new spam related to the economy and personal finances has increased by twice that amount, or 10%, during this period.

Examples include malware attacks targeting consumers with credit card debt, as well as phishing attacks targeting individuals undergoing property foreclosure. By offering consumers relief for their financial woes, these attacks dupe users into clicking on links included or embedded in the emails, an action that automatically downloads viruses or redirects them to phishing sites.

Some examples include:

* ‘What’s Your Credit Score? Get it Now!’

* ‘Premier Loan Provider.com: The Cash You need Now; Loans up to $1500′

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